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Before Facebook and Instagram, took a considerable chunk on online advertising attention, one service held the monopoly in the Internet marketing industry – Google AdWords. The platform shows contextually relevant ads based on what you’re searching (if they’re configured properly). This is a huge advantage since 9 out of 10 people you know look to Google for products or services (there’s one guy that will run to bing, but he’s more important than ever – we’ll explain in an upcoming post).

While new players have entered the game, the balance has tipped away from Google’s monopoly. Just last year, a whopping 97% of Google’s revenue was still coming from their ad networks. This probably isn’t surprising you, considering every week 72% of your customers make a quick search for what’s around before ending up in your business. Even if you’re generating leads, search ads can have a hugely successful conversion rate.

So what’s this article even about? Well, we focus on Google’s ad networks, and how effective they can be for your business (compared to other platforms). Ideally, once you’ve read this article you’ll be able to decide if your business needs Google’s network to grow. Let’s dive in!

The Local Numbers

In Australia, the numbers aren’t really dissimilar from the rest of the world. Google’s search engine market share stands around 93%, while other competitors, Bing and Yahoo, scrape the barrel at 5% and 2%, respectively.

As far as traffic is concerned, Google still races ahead of its competitors, feeding them digital dust, so to speak. Google Australia has 8.80% of all the total traffic generated by Aussies as of 2015, while Facebook only has 3.85% and YouTube at 2.40%. That’s pretty huge when you consider it.

Two years might have passed, but as far as global numbers are concerned, the game has not shifted as much as you think. Facebook might be generating more and more publicity as time passes, but it’s the type of activity that sets the difference.

People go to Facebook (or most other social media platforms, for that matter) to post, share, and contribute attention. It’s simply harder to reach the right people ready to buy since people’s attention can be towards a lot of different sources. You can absolutely do outstandingly well with social ads, but you’ll need to have really good creative (images/videos/text) otherwise you’ll get lost amongst the buzz (we can help you create that content).

Meanwhile, when you’re searching Google, you’re looking for a solution, an answer to a problem you have. Whether that problem is simply that you want to find the best place for dinner, or if your car needs a service. Your ads are almost welcomed, with arms wide open. Recent surveys even found that without the right-hand column, 45.5% of the people can never tell the difference between organic and your paid search results.

Not to mention, Google almost monopolizes the mobile search advertising realm, taking in 97% of the total spending on mobile. That’s HUGE! As of mid-2015, 15.3 million Australians own a smartphone (does someone even exist if they don’t own a smartphone?), with 63% of our total daily time spent looking and browsing on our devices. By going for Google Ads, you are getting a lot of online bang for your few bucks.

In a nutshell

Yes. Even with our social media giants, Google’s still kicking when it comes to traffic, click through rate, and conversion rate and it can certainly help you grow your business. As with life, however, the caveat is the potentially hefty price tag.